Beyond Money

It is a story that I have told in my own writings and presentations, particularly in my book, The End of Money and the Future of Civilization, but the video below is well worth viewing. I’ve not been a big fan of Glen Beck, and I abhor the Fox network, which I consider to be a propaganda instrument of the global elite, but this particular program is ironically quite good at telling the story of the creation of the Federal Reserve, the banking cartel, and the collusive arrangement between the bankers and the politicians (that pattern was actually established with the founding of the Bank of England in 1694). Beck’s featured guest, G. Edward Griffin, the author of The Creature From Jekyll Island, is particularly astute in his observations. The conversation only goes astray toward the end when it turns to gold backing, a proposal that is based on a still naive conceptualization of what money is and how it works.

Interestingly, Beck was fired by the Fox network shortly after this program aired, presumably for exposing the scam of the elite cabal that Fox is there to serve.

The Greanville Post has just published what is purported to be the 40 point agenda of the new Greek coalition government headed by the Syriza party that recently won a stunning victory at the polls.

Here is the agenda as reported:

Audit of the public debt and renegotiation of interest due and suspension of payments until the economy has revived and growth and employment return.

Demand the European Union to change the role of the European Central Bank so that it finances States and programs of public investment.

Raise income tax to 75% for all incomes over 500,000 euros.

Change the election laws to a proportional system.

Increase taxes on big companies to that of the European average.

Adoption of a tax on financial transactions and a special tax on luxury goods.

Prohibition of speculative financial derivatives.

Abolition of financial privileges for the Church and shipbuilding industry.

Combat the banks’ secret [measures] and the flight of capital abroad.

Cut drastically military expenditures.

Raise minimum salary to the pre-cut level, 750 euros per month.

Use buildings of the government, banks and the Church for the homeless.

Open dining rooms in public schools to offer free breakfast and lunch to children.

Free health benefits to the unemployed, homeless and those with low salaries.

Subvention up to 30% of mortgage payments for poor families who cannot meet payments.

Increase of subsidies for the unemployed. Increase social protection for one-parent families, the aged, disabled, and families with no income.

Fiscal reductions for goods of primary necessity.

Nationalization of banks.

Nationalization of ex-public (service & utilities) companies in strategic sectors for the growth of the country (railroads, airports, mail, water).

Preference for renewable energy and defence of the environment.

Equal salaries for men and women.

Limitation of precarious hiring and support for contracts for indeterminate time.

Extension of the protection of labor and salaries of part-time workers.

Recovery of collective (labor) contracts.

Increase inspections of labor and requirements for companies making bids for public contracts.

Constitutional reforms to guarantee separation of Church and State and protection of the right to education, health care and the environment.

Referendums on treaties and other accords with Europe.

Abolition of privileges for parliamentary deputies. Removal of special juridical protection for ministers and permission for the courts to proceed against members of the government.

Demilitarization of the Coast Guard and anti-insurrectional special troops. Prohibition for police to wear masks or use fire arms during demonstrations. Change training courses for police so as to underline social themes such as immigration, drugs and social factors.

Guarantee human rights in immigrant detention centers.

Facilitate the reunion of immigrant families.

Depenalization of consumption of drugs in favor of battle against drug traffic. Increase funding for drug rehab centers.

Regulate the right of conscientious objection in draft laws.

Increase funding for public health up to the average European level.(The European average is 6% of GDP; in Greece 3%.)

Elimination of payments by citizens for national health services.

Nationalization of private hospitals. Elimination of private participation in the national health system.

Withdrawal of Greek troops from Afghanistan and the Balkans. No Greek soldiers beyond our own borders.

Abolition of military cooperation with Israel. Support for creation of a Palestinian State within the 1967 borders.

Negotiation of a stable accord with Turkey.

Closure of all foreign bases in Greece and withdrawal from NATO.

If they are able to pull off even a few of their main agenda items, the new governors of Greece could set a precedent that will likely lead to major power shifts back toward national sovereignty and away form the New World Order along with the breakup or complete restructuring of the European Union.

This is shaping up to be a battle reminiscent of the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC, but fought this time, not with weapons of iron, but with innovative systems of money, credit, finance, and organization. -t.h.g.

A free online course (MOOC) in Money and Society is being offered by Professor Jem Bendell, PhD (IFLAS) and Matthew Slater, under the aegis of the Institute for Leadership and Sustainability of Cumbria University. The four lessons of the course, intended to” explode myths about the history, nature, present and future of money,” will commence 16 February 2015 and conclude 18 March 2015. For details and registration go to http://iflas.blogspot.com/2014/12/money-and-society-mooc.html.

Despite the ongoing attempts of the Western media and politicians to vilify him, Russian President Vladimir Putin is showing himself to be a true statesman deserving of international attention and respect. Former Reagan administration official and Wall Street Journal editor Paul Craig Roberts, in a recent post, goes so far as to declare Vladimir Putin Is The Leader Of the Moral World.

Roberts begins his post by commenting as follows:

Dear Friends,

Vladimir Putin’s remarks at the 11th meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club are worth more than a link in my latest column. These are the remarks of a humanitarian political leader, the like of which the world has not seen in my lifetime. Compare Putin to the corrupt war criminal in the White House or to his puppets in office in Germany, UK, France, Japan, Canada, Australia, and you will see the difference between a criminal clique and a leader striving for a humane and livable world in which the interests of all peoples are respected.

In a sane Western society, Putin’s statements would have been reproduced in full and discussions organized with remarks from experts such as Stephen F. Cohen. Choruses of approval would have been heard on television and read in the print media. But, of course, nothing like this is possible in a country whose rulers claim that it is the “exceptional” and “indispensable” country with an extra-legal right to hegemony over the world. As far as Washington and its prostitute media, named “presstitutes” by the trends specialist Gerald Celente, are concerned, no country counts except Washington. “You are with us or against us,” which means “you are our vassals or our enemies.” This means that Washington has declared Russia, China, India, Brazil and other parts of South America, Iran, and South Africa to be enemies.

This is a big chunk of the world for a bankrupt country, hated by its vassal populations and many of its own subjects, that has not won a war since it defeated tiny Japan in 1945 by using nuclear weapons, the only use of such terrible weapons in world history. ….

My December 13 interview by Bob Prentice and Sandra Harshman on Bartertown Radio considered moneyless trading in general then zeroed in on what needs to be done to take credit clearing and private currencies to scale. To stream it or download it, click here.

I have accepted an invitation to be the featured guest on Bartertown Radio on Saturday, December 13.

Bartertown Radio, which describes itself as “your educational station for Trade,” is a Live Radio Talk Show every Saturday Morning at 11:00 EST ( check your local time please). My interview will be all about moneyless trading and exchange innovation, particularly as it applies to the commercial trade exchange business. To listen in and/or share your thoughts you can call 1-347-989-8557 for the show. Calls can be made using any phone or by using your Skype account which provides calls at very low cost especially for those living outside the U.S.

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My New Course Offering — Principles of Exchange Innovation

As the years pass I become ever more aware of time as a scarce commodity, and as the global mega-crisis intensifies, I feel a greater urgency about the need to transcend the global interest-based, debt-money system that is driving us to destruction. Thus I am eager to pass on to the next generations the important insights and discoveries I have made over the past 35 years. I am intent on doing this in ways that will have a greater impact than the presentations, workshops and writings I have been producing over the past many years.

While I relinquished my formal academic career decades ago in favor of independent inquiry, scholarship, writing, and consulting, I remain a teacher a heart and am making it my highest priority to offer a course in the Principles of Exchange Innovation. I am quite sure that there is no other course like this anywhere, and I am uniquely qualified to conduct it.

It is my intention to guide dedicated cadres of change agents through an intensive process of inquiry, discovery, and planning to bring to market revolutionary structures and processes for value exchange that promote a sustainable economy and have the potential to usher in a new equitable and peaceful economic paradigm.

I am willing to go wherever suitable venues might be found. I’ve considered offering this as an online course, and that can be one component of it, but I believe that the impetus toward timely and effective action requires the continuity and intensity that comes from the regular face-to-face interaction and ongoing collaboration in a classroom setting.

Prospective course participants and host institutions are invited to fill out the short form at http://wp.me/P43RA-Ea. If you know of other institutions, departments, or individuals that might be interested in participating, please pass this along to them.

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California Tour-October/November

My two week trip to California in October could not have been better. It started with the Living the New Economy Convergence that was held in Oakland, October 23-24, and ended with a delightful visit with my dear friends, the Lub family, in Napa and Martinez. In between, I gave another presentation at the Institute of Noetic Sciences, attended an open house at the new Oakland offices of Berrett-Kohler Publishers, and conferred with several long-time friends and colleagues.

Living the New Economy Convergence

The convergence was the best conference I’ve attended in many years—well organized, with excellent presenters, and participants that were enthusiastic, well-informed, and intelligent.

A few of the presentations, including one of my own, were recorded by Bitcoin magazine. My presentation during the panel on The Future of Value Exchange can be found in my blog post here. Links to the others can be found here, and a few photos that I took at the Convergence can be viewed on my Picasa Web gallery. If you would like to see a more detailed report on this event, check out this one on the Shareable website.

The convergence was followed by a two day “hackathon” that gave participants an opportunity to brainstorm together and propose ideas, collaborations, and business projects. Sergio Lub’s pictures from that part of the event (October 25) are on his Flickr site.

IONS

The event at the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) on the evening of October 30, was very gratifying, drawing about a dozen participants, many of whom I’ve known and worked with over the past several years. My presentation titled, The Evolution of Money and its Potential to Improve Humanity, was followed by a lively discussion that went on for more than 2 hours. The entire proceedings were video recorded by Sergio Lub and can be seen via my blog post at BeyondMoney.net.

Sonoma GoLocal

The day before I left to return to Arizona, Sergio and I visited our friends who run the Sonoma GoLocal project. This is an exciting project that goes well beyond the conventional “buy local” agenda.

A few years ago, Sonoma GoLocal initiated a merchant rebate program, which is gradually becoming more popular. According to Terry Garrett, about 17,000 swipe cards have been issued to consumers and there are now 53 merchants offering “Reward Points,” with each merchant choosing their own percentage rate of rebate that varies from 2% to 10%, with the median rate being 5%.

Over the past year they have experienced a growth rate of about 20% in both the number of participating merchants and the number of cardholders. Between January1 and September 30, 2014, the amount of transactions involving either issuance or redemption of Reward Points was about $3.8 million with that number expected to reach $5.5 million by year’s end. Sonoma GoLocal has been publishing both a printed pocket guide and a free bi-monthly magazine that help to make the project financially viable. You can see some photos from our meeting, including cover photos of the publications here.

I would like to make everyone aware of a major conference that is upcoming next June 4-7. This conference, to be held on the campus of Pomona College, located in Claremont, CA, is the result of several events held in conjunction (10th International Whitehead Conference, 9th International Forum on Ecological Civilization, Inaugural Pando Populus Conference, Pilgrim Place Centennial Celebration, and Process & Faith Summer Institute) and will consist of 12 Sections divided into approximately 78 Tracks. Each Track will have 8 sessions, which will be 90 minutes each.

After my meeting with renowned philosopher and theologian, John Cobb, a couple years ago, he invited me to participate in this conference which he was then helping to plan. I will be presenting in Section I, The Threatening Catastrophe: Responding Now, Track 6, Political Collapse: The Alternative. You can get all the details, and register at http://www.ctr4process.org/whitehead2015/.

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My next book?, + video projects

I’m aware that in today’s information-rich environment people tend to be overloaded and getting their attention is becoming ever more difficult. Short videos on YouTube, Vimeo, or other video showcases are probably the best bet for getting a message across. I’m hoping to find someone with the requisite editing skills to help me parse some of my recorded presentations into short topical lessons. That, combined with a new book aimed at the mass market, might attract the kind of attention, and provide the essential information needed to dispel false beliefs that prevail in the minds of the general public and stimulate the kinds of fundamental structural changes that are becoming ever more urgent. I’m inclined to give this new book a provocative title, like Everything You Know About Money (And Banking) Is Wrong! It would follow a question and answer format that presents first a fundamental question, then the orthodox answer and prevalent belief, then the truth of the matter as I have come to see it.

This project is of course a major undertaking, and if it is to achieve the kinds of results hoped for, calls for some skills and resources that exceed my own. Collaborators and suggestions are invited.

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Finally, on a personal note, after spending the summer in Bisbee, I’ve reestablished myself in Tucson, sharing a house on the far east side, close to the Rincon Mountains and Saguaro National Park. Though a bit distant from downtown, it is in a lovely, peaceful setting—rather ideal for creative work.

My accustomed robust health has been disturbed in recent months by some digestive difficulties. A course of medication and a combination of dietary changes and natural supplements seem to be resolving the worst of it and I’m hopeful that I’ll soon be back to normal.

Best wishes to all for a Happy Holiday Season, and may the coming year bring a great leap forward in creating a more peaceful, just, and sustainable world.